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Over 100 Tajik citizens killed in Syria, Iraq: chief prosecutor

Xinhua, August 1, 2015 Adjust font size:

More than 100 Tajik nationals were killed in Syria and Iraq fighting alongside the Islamic State (IS) militant group, Tajikitan's chief prosecutor has said.

About 30 to 40 Tajik women followed their husbands to Syria and Iraq,Prosecutor-General Yusuf Rakhm Ahmadzoda told reporters Friday.

"We couldn't exactly say they are fighting there or not, but we know they went to Syria and Iraq with their husbands," he said, adding that criminal proceedings won't be instituted against the women if they return to Tajikistan.

Ahmadzoda said that he met Thursday with a Tajik woman who stayed in Syria with her husband for a year.

"Her husband was fighting alongside the IS militants and was wounded in battle. Nobody provided assistance to him and he died. After his death, the woman fled Syria through Turkey and Tajik diplomats helped her to return home," said the chief prosecutor.

According to Tajikistan's Interior Ministry, 519 Tajiks are fighting in Syria and Iraq alongside the IS, and 150 of them were killed and 35 returned home. Endi